Is He Really All That Bad?
by NexusTehULF0o
Summary: To hate or not to hate? What is the actual question here? Sheena gets angry with Zelos again, but finds there's much more to a person than just what's on their cover. Oneshot. Sheelosity, man.


**Title: Is He Really All That Bad…? **

**Author: NexustehULF0o**

**Description: To hate or not to hate? What is the actual question here? Sheena gets angry with Zelos again, but finds there's much more to a person than just what's on their cover. Oneshot. Sheelosity, man. **

**Rating: K. Nothin' special in terms of language, sexual content, and suggestive themes here.

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**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TALES OF SYMPHONIA. ALL HAIL NAMCO!

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**Nexus: (runs circles around Cless, hands flailing above her) "Giri-giri-giri-giri-giri-giri-giri-giri-giri-giri-giriiiiiiiiiiiii~! Spinning, spinning…!"**

**Cless: (angry skit face): "FAIR AND SQUARE! FAIR AND SQUARE~!"

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Sheena Fujibayashi was anything but into the mood to talk with him.

After receiving another of his lewd comments, Zelos was the last person that she wanted to see, speak with, or even think about.

Pulling her knees close to the chest, Sheena rested her forehead against them, closing her eyes tightly and trying to think about something else.

_Grrr…what's the matter with me? _She thought venomously, gritting her teeth. _I…I hate that stupid Chosen! A-all he does is poke fun at me! _

She had shaken her head slowly, lightly brushing her forehead against her knees and looking up from her position. She had stormed out of another of the party's campsites to calm her down, and now found herself at the edge of a small, trickling creek, with many trees looming over her as if watching her every move. The wind blew threw the cluster of trees in the small wood, making them whisper about her actions and what she might do next. Light filtered down through the lush, green leaves above her, beaming down upon the summoner in little patches of orange-purple glow. Sheena looked about a little bit more before she let go of her knees, leaning back on her palms and heaving a sigh. How could she possibly stay angry when it was so peaceful out here?

A small sparrow started chirping off in the distance, one that she secretly enjoyed the company of. The patchy green grass below her blew with the slight gusts of wind, taking the flowers along with it. She managed a faint smile, refraining from plucking a small pink flower that had begun blooming next to where she sat.

Sheena couldn't help but adore flowers. Despite what everyone she knew thought, the ninja was quite feminine; she was a woman after all. Moving her fingers about the petals of the little pink flower, she returned to leaning on her hand and looked up to the bushy clamor of leaves that seemed to have grown so nicely this season.

She unconsciously let her hands drop her so she lay on her back, passing another contemplative sigh through her minutely parted lips. She closed her eyes for a brief moment as if to let all of her previous anger drain into the less-than-comforting abyss of the past…

Something rustling near her caused the ninja to open her eyes abruptly, exclaiming her surprise at the realization that a pair of cerulean blue eyes were staring over her with a terrified squeak. She scrambled to a sitting position, her eyebrows narrowing as she remembered her fury towards the man staring at her.

"What?" Zelos asked as if he had never said anything in the first place. He stared at her curiously, although she reacted as if she had no time to retaliate.

"Oh, that's the age-old question for you, isn't it?" She snapped, tearing her face away from him.

"Whaddya mean?" He seemed rather blunt with her, although his eyes still appeared as if he were probing, searching for something of which she could not determine. She huffed, folding her arms and crossing her legs as if to imply she was going to make this difficult. Zelos shook his head; he knew she would. She always did.

"Look, I got harassed into coming out here and saying I'm sorry," he told her, staring behind her to momentarily focus on the babbles coming from the brook. He sat back on his heels and clapped once, rolling his eyes. "It was either that or they were all going to beat me with something or another."

Sheena's gaze softened, knowing that being an aristocrat, Zelos had been not been taught anything along the lines of courteous manners, especially apologizing after making such provoking and demeaning comments. She couldn't forgive him for what he'd built up on her, but this small metamorphosis that he had gone through since he had joined the party had not gone without notice. She thought that, if being the same person that he had been in the beginning, he would make some remark about them all and probably not do anything about it.

But that was not to say that he wouldn't say anything about her anymore. There would always be that.

There was silence for a moment, both Zelos and Sheena trailing off into their own thoughts.

"Look," Zelos started after a while, standing up and brushing the excess blades of grass off of his white pants. "Do you want me to say I'm sorry or not?"

"No, I don't. Because you don't mean it." She retorted, folding her arms once more.

"Of course I mean it!" He nodded as if to confirm this statement, his face abruptly creasing with worry once more. "Why wouldn't I mean it?"

"Think about that one for a second." The ninja wagged a finger at the man while speaking, standing herself.

By this time, she was just playing with his head in order to make him feel guilty.

Zelos just shook his head, managing a small smirk.

"Okay, okay…" he muttered, running a hand through his hair. "I get it. I'm not the most _polite _person in the world. But I never really thought you'd get that angry, Sheena. I was frightened."

"Frightened?" Sheena laughed at the comment. "Why would you be scared?"

"Frightened for my life!" The swordsman exclaimed. "I thought you were going to end up doing something drastic."

This caused the ninja to laugh even harder, in spite of her mood. She never thought that Zelos thought she was going to actually going to hurt him. They always had their little quarrels once in a while, but she tried not to hurt him too bad…just enough to set him straight. If he had thought that she had hurt him bad before, then how bad things would have gotten when she'd actually been angry?

"Why, did I look that angry to you?" She asked, cocking her head slightly.

"Yeah! That's why they all yelled at me, because they'd thought that I'd actually said something that you would get that angry at."

"Huh. I guess things just built up on me."

"You're telling me! I've never seen you act so…" He trailed off, biting his bottom lip as if to stop himself from provoking her any further. Sheena could tell, thus twisting the conversation in her favor.

"Really?" She asked him, acting like what he was about to say didn't faze her. "That must have been pretty bad, then."

"Yeah, I don't think even you would want to be in your way when you're mad." Zelos commented, leaning his back up against the sturdy trunk of a tree. Sheena blushed mildly, brushing the statement off with a mere shrug as she moved to join him on the other side of the tree. She didn't know why, but she wasn't really mad at the swordsman anymore. There was some way that this always happened, where, after pissing her off, he would calm her down in such a way that made her feel like she had never been angry in the first place. She sighed for a third time, sliding her back down the trunk of the tree to sit under its shady leaves. Zelos, not long after, took a seat next to her, occasionally glancing over at her.

"Do you…forgive me?" he asked, leaning close to her shoulder. Her first instinct was to lean the other way, her face turning a dark shade of pink. She mulled the question over for a moment, then shrugging her shoulders again as if she had no choice but to.

"I guess if I have to." She mumbled as if to sound reluctant, placing her hand on his face and pushing it away from her. The twenty-two year old grinned, pulling away and nodding at the ninja beside him.

"Yay!" he replied as if overjoyed by the one little comment. Then the two fell into another long span of silence, both of them taking notice to the fact that it was getting progressively darker.

"Well, Miss Sheena, what say we head back to the campsite?" Zelos suggested, pointing the way of a small glow of a fire off in the distance.

"You go on ahead. I'll stay here for a few more minutes." She replied almost instantaneously.

"Fine, then I'll stay with you." The swordsman offered, nodding and bouncing in place once.

"No, really Zelos, you don't have to. I'll be fine."

"Now, now, we can't have our little summoner eaten by a bear, can we?" He playfully touched his gloved finger to the girl's nose. He turned from her. "It's no trouble; I like it out here anyway. And plus, you need someone to keep you company."

"You being one of that last people on the Earth I would have chosen to do so." She retorted, slapping him on the shoulder.

Zelos chuckled, adjusting his back against the trunk of the tree.

The small crickets chirping not far off soon began, conducting a melody that seemed like racket when not focused upon, but symphonic when listening. The two people were swept up by their own thoughts as time droned on, one of them scooting closer to the other as the night grew cold. They would occasionally chat about current events and recent struggles, but once talking grew thin, one way or another the past was brought up. This was a difficult topic for the both of them, however, and therefore, it didn't last long. The silence crept in once more, enveloping the two in memories, thoughts, and wonders.

"They're probably wondering where we are by now." Zelos said suddenly, standing up and turning towards the campsite. "Wouldn't wanna give them any ideas, would we, Sheena?" He winked at her playfully, causing her to scowl and fold her arms.

"You're a pervert." She retorted.

"Well, you don't, do you?" Zelos persisted, leaning over towards her a bit.

"You go on ahead. I'll catch up." The summoner waved at him dismissively, causing the swordsman to place his hands on his hips in an expectant manner.

"Now, come on, Sheena. If I come all the way out here to apologize to you, and come back without you, what're they all gonna think?" He returned to a straight-up position, tapping his foot on the ground.

Sheena was silent, yet a playful smirk grew slowly on her face as she realized with he was getting at.

"They're gonna beat me with the first thing they see!" He exclaimed, raising his hands into the air. "Now, if you're not going to come willingly, I'm just going to have to force you."

The ninja's eyebrows narrowed. "You wouldn't."

Zelos, challenging her by raising an eyebrow of his own, grinned at the fact that she was starting another of their so-called 'games.'

"Try me." He whispered.

The summoner slid her back up the tree suspiciously, ready to turn and run as soon as Zelos started his pursuit. He faked her out a couple of times, but soon he was chasing her around the little, grassy area, attempting to bring her back to the campsite. After a while they both had resulted in laughing and egging each other on as if it were a game of tag, where one pursues the other until they get tired.

Having been cornered with her back to the brook, Sheena swerved out of the way of the quickly approaching Zelos Wilder, causing him to trip and fall into the creek behind her.

This made the ninja laugh hysterically, watching teary-eyed as the Chosen flipped his wet hair out of his face and grimaced, narrowing his eyes.

"Very funny…" he mumbled, resting his head on his open palm. The summoner he had been chasing was too busy laughing to react, so he decided to grab her by the legs and drag her into the stream as well, laughing himself when she shot death glares at him.

"What goes around comes around, my sweet." He elaborated, leaning on her shoulder.

"Ugh…you stupid, stupid Chosen!" She cried, pulling off her gloves and shoving him off of her. "You got me all wet!"

"Hey, you got me wet too!" Zelos boldly pointed to himself, looking to accuse. Sheena sighed, standing up before unbuckling her boots and taking them off, dumping the water from them before throwing them aside.

"See, look," She said, ignoring him. "You got my clothes all wet!"

"Hey, Miss Sheena, you are forgetting he who fell into the water first…~~" he mumbled under his breath, standing as well.

"Give me your vest thing." Sheena pointed indignantly at the Chosen's pink over shirt after stepping out off the stream, one that had only become soaked at the bottom where he had been sitting.

"Why?" The Chosen complained, climbing out himself.

"Because you pulled me in, and because of you, my gi got all soaked and I see no other way to make it dry faster then to –"

" – Take it off. Ohhhhhhhhh…!" Zelos grinned at the thought, stepping back a pace. "Nah, I think I'll keep my little 'vest thing…'" He rubbed the pink over shirt lovingly, pretending to be unwilling to part with it. "It is very comfortable, after all –"

"_ZELOS!_"

"All right, all right!" The swordsman quickly unlatched the straps of his over shirt and handed it to her, backing up a couple paces to make sure she wasn't going to hit him. "Here!"

"Thank you." She thanked him calmly, the twenty-two year old nodding before proceeding in watching her carefully. Sheena looked at the relatively dry vest and then up at Zelos, whose grin plastered on his face had grown considerably since the silence had erupted between them.

"What are you going to do now, Sheena?" The Chosen asked, placing a hand to his hip. "You've solved the problem in getting dry clothes, but you have yet to figure how you're going to change them while in my presence." He gestured elegantly to himself while speaking. Sheena's eyes narrowed in dull hatred of Zelos' ego.

"That's an easy one." She told him. "It's pretty dark. Cover your eyes."

"I dunno, Sheena…" The man flipped some of his wet red hair out of his face as he replied in a sing-song voice. "One of my fingers might slip and I might…"

"If you peek, I swear, I will run back to camp and tell them to beat you with the biggest weapon they can find!" She turned a dark red at the mention of that subject. "You know yourself they would believe me before they would ever even think of –"

"Hey, all right! You'd kill me before they'd even get the chance, anyway! Okay, okay, I'm closin' `em..." He reassured her, motioning for the ninja to calm down.

As soon as he shut and covered his eyes, she stripped herself of her gi and then pulled on Zelos' vest, pulling it tightly before latching on the straps faster than she ever had before.

"O-okay…you can look now." She stammered, knowing that he was probably going to say something about her. Folding her arms, she watched as the Chosen uncovered his eyes, stared at her for a moment, and smiled, placing a hand to his hip after kicking it out.

"Well, don't you look…" He remembered what he'd said about getting her angry before and shut his mouth, replacing the word with a long "Mmmmmmh…" Sheena rolled her eyes and sat down on the floor again.

"It'll do until my clothes dry…" A shiver down her spine stopped her suddenly. "Man, it's really cold out here…" She began, grabbing her arms and rubbing them as if to warm herself up. She did just fall in the creek, after all. And the vest that she had stolen from Zelos wasn't that warm either.

"Hmmm…" Zelos agreed, shrugging slightly before sitting down adjacent to her. "I guess so…" The black shirt that usually resided underneath his jacket-like over shirt fanned out as he un-tucked it from his pants, it rippling in the soft breeze. The bottom of his shirt clung to him when it touched his skin, along with the top half of his pants that gathered blades of grass as he sat beside her.

Suddenly, the wind blew hard, causing the summoner to bunch closer to herself and Zelos to smirk in the concoction of a scheme.

"Well, there's always one way to keep warm, if you don't want to go back to the campsite…" He trailed off as if to heighten suspense. No matter what Sheena would have said, he was actually trying to convince her to return back.

"Of course I don't! What will they think if I come back wearing something of yours?" She gestured to her current attire, folding her arms and shivering.

"The same thing they already think, I'm sure." Zelos mused out loud, watching the small creek. Sheena blushed.

"What's your…other way of keeping warm…?" She asked curiously, and the swordsman chuckled and scooted closer to her.

"You could always…put your arms around me," he nudged her suggestively. She did what he thought she would; scowl and move away from him, muttering a "…Never…"

Zelos just chuckled.

"Fine."

He sat quietly.

The night progressed on in absolute silence.

There was no talking.

There was no breeze.

The brook beside them did not make a sound.

Sheena became lost in the severity and importance of her own thoughts.

And then suddenly, Sheena felt something warm sneak its way around her waist, causing all the heat from her body to rush to her face. She glanced to Zelos as he moved his head to her shoulder and sighed out of his nose, face leaning against her perfectly stiff neck and legs outstretching on either side of her. She tensed immediately.

"Zelos, what're you…!" She fumed, blinking a few times before adjusting herself to the Chosen now constricted around her.

"You said you were cold, right?" He asked in another soft chuckle, passing another tired sigh out of his nose. "Well, If you weren't gonna move, then I was gonna…!"

A part of her wanted to scream in protest. To writhe her way from his grasp and denounce every nice thing he'd ever said or done for her as without meaning…

…But…

…She couldn't. She didn't.

She couldn't move. The other half told her to give in…to make herself comfortable in his arms and sigh contently, looking up to the sky that was barely seen through the shade of the forest above them…she would feel him move his hand to steady himself on the floor, and at the same time, she would lean against hers…their hands would touch…she would snatch hers away, embarrassed, and he would laugh, and then he would lay his chin back on her shoulder, wet red locks of hair rubbing gently against her neck in a loving caress-

What?

What the hell was she thinking? Zelos wasn't the one who…Why would she even begin to _think_ that he would even…

"Hm…!" Zelos mused, glancing her way for a split second. "And so it seems that Sheena has let me touch her without an hitting or jabbing or insulting or anything."

"I'm just cold." She mumbled nervously, shifting slightly as she spoke.

He chuckled, shifting his head on her shoulder. Unconscious of her actions, the side of her head met his, flinching at the coldness of his damp ear against hers.

He was so warm despite the fact they had just fell into the water…the intoxicating scent of his breath upon her almost put her into some hypnotic state…

Noticing what she was doing, the Chosen hesitated for a split second, but didn't let his accomplished acting skills down. He pushed his head against hers, jolting her out of her trance. A small contented sigh escaped the summoner; the Chosen feeling a small crooked smile rise to the side of her face.

"Mmmmh…Zelos…" She spoke softly as if they were doing something illegal. "You better not get any ideas…"

"Are you kidding…? I've already got them." He replied, enfolding his legs under her so she now sat in his lap. "Before…you were hinting at me all night…what was I supposed to think?"

"I…I was just…" She attempted to save herself, but stopped in the middle, realizing its utter futility.

He removed his hands from her waist and clutched his hands around hers.

"I'm sorry for acting like I do." He muttered in her ear, squeezing her hands together. "I just…can't express myself any other way. Especially in your case."

She felt that she needed to keep quiet in order to keep the moment, so she replied with a sheepish "…Mhm…?"

He growled. "You're going to make this difficult again, aren't you?"

"What?" She asked genuinely, making him chuckle airily. The Chosen sighed out of his nose again afterwards, closing his eyes and smirking a bit.

"What?" She pried, poking his leg playfully after wriggling her hand out of his grasp.

Of course she was. She always did.

He drew in a deep breath, causing her heartbeat to increase rapidly. Her cheeks, which had reduced their color to a light shade of pink, fired up again when she thought ahead to what he might or might not say. "Mmmmh…" he groaned, wishing he had more time, "What I'm trying to say, Sheena, is that I…"

"Sheena!"

A voice called out from somewhere in the forest, stopping the man in his tracks. Sheena looked up upon hearing her name, then instantly scrambling from Zelos' lap and standing up as if listening for it again. Hiding her face from Zelos, she remained silent until she heard another cry, this one female from the previous' male.

"Sheena! Zelos! Where are you guys?" The voice questioned, and the ninja smiled, cupping her hands over her mouth as she noticed the swordsman beside her stand up and dust off his pants.

"We're over here!" She cried, hoping they would hear her.

"Over where?" The first voice asked.

"By the stream!" Zelos replied this time.

Suddenly, out of the brush came Lloyd Irving, along with Colette Brunel. Looking oblivious as always, they both smiled at their two friends who were standing adjacent to each other.

"What happened to you guys? Zelos left after dinner and we haven't seen you two since!" Lloyd, raising an eyebrow, stated while helping Colette out of a snag.

"We've just been talking and stuff; no big deal." Sheena shrugged, looking away from Lloyd to the ground.

"Oh."

"How nice of you, Zelos! You leant Sheena your shirt!" Colette smiled genuinely; she was completely unaware as to why Sheena was even wearing it in the first place.

"What happened?" Lloyd questioned.

"Me and Zelos fell in the creek." Sheena pointed behind her, both Lloyd and Colette leaning to the left as if to look past her momentarily.

"My jacket wasn't that wet." Zelos continued, pulling Sheena next to him with his left arm. "So ya know, I decided to lend her it because she was soaked."

"Yeah," Sheena scoffed. "You wouldn't have if I hadn't threatened to hurt you," she mumbled to the Chosen, who stifled a laugh.

"How'd you fall in the creek?" Lloyd asked.

_Why is he asking so many questions_? Sheena mused. _He's normally never like this._

Of course, Zelos saw this as an opportunity to reveal what Sheena wanted to keep secret, opening his mouth wide and speaking only "She wouldn't come back to the campsite, so I had to –" before the ninja chimed in with "It was just an accident."

"An accident?" Colette asked, dusting off her shirt/shawl thing.

"Yeah." Sheena continued, hesitating a little. "Y'see, it went like this…I kinda tripped." She stammered, making the Chosen beside her chuckle again.

"Tripped." Lloyd repeated, although he sounded completely believing of her words. Colette nodded.

"Yeah, there was some kind of rock…but anyway, Zelos tried to catch me, and he fell in too." She lied, and was rather proud of her story, to tell anyone the truth.

"Oh my, are you all right?" The female Chosen asked, placing a hand to her mouth.

"I'm just fine." Zelos said proudly, flexing in a show-offy manner with his free arm. "Sheena, I never got to ask. Are you okay?"

Suddenly, everyone was looking at her again. Zelos slowly let go of her, placing his hand in his pocket. He still kept her eyes on her, though.

"Uh, yeah." She nodded towards Zelos after glaring at him a couple of seconds. "I'm fine."

"That's good." Lloyd told them, smiling. "It's good to hear you guys aren't fighting."

"Mmmhmm." Colette agreed.

Zelos yawned, stretching heavily before scratching his chest.

"Welp, I'm tired." He mumbled at the end of his yawn. "I'm headin' back to camp so I can catch some Z's." He brushed past Lloyd and walked into the forest, muttering a "See ya later, Sheena," to the ninja he had previously been chatting with. Lloyd watched the other man leave, running after him a few seconds later and calling "Hey, Zelos! Wait up!"

Colette stared fondly at Sheena, who had clutched her gi in one hand and the end of Zelos' jacket in the other. She blushed, looking away from Colette to the leaves below the Chosen's feet.

"I had to lie, Colette. I'm sorry." She told the blonde-haired girl, who merely nodded, smiled, and placed her hand on the ninja's shoulder.

"What was all that about?" Lloyd asked, glancing to the older of the two of them and smirking, not entirely as stupid as people made him out to be. His tone didn't quite come of as "suspicious" as more of "concerned."

"Nothin', really." Zelos waved dismissively to the swordsman, who narrowed his eyes expectantly.

"Aw, come on. Why'd you just disappear like that after dinner? You could have told us you were gonna go look for Sheena! We would have let you go!" Lloyd told him, making the Chosen smile himself.

"It's complicated…" Zelos replied, placing his hands behind his head and sighing heavily. "You wouldn't understand it anyway."

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**Nexus: "Majinken! Majinken! Majinken! Majinken! Majinken!" **

**Senel: (jumps) "Raaaaaaaah!" (attack skit face) (Grabs Nexus around the waist)**

**Nexus: (plants her feet)**

**Senel: (tries to pick her up, but can't)**

**[Boing. Boing. Boing. Boing.] **

**Nexus: "Mmmmmh?" (grins devilishly at Senel, who glanced at her with a frightened skit face.)**

"**RAJINKEN!"**

**Senel: "Gwahhhhhh!" (Flies backwards, getting struck by lightning and falling on the side of his box.) **

**Nexus: (grin) "R&R Please~~!" **


End file.
